Tag: Entertainment

When our inner worlds work under the death-haunted dictates of casino capitalism, the Apocalypse is embraced as if it functioned exclusively as a form of entertainment, rather than providing a warning about the rise of militarism, the killing of civilians, and religious and political fundamentalisms.

A new study demonstrates that women are featured less and hypersexualized more than men in film. So although Jennifer Lawrence may have captured everyone’s imagination playing heroine Katniss Everdeen in “The Hunger Games,” that feat remains the exception rather than the rule.

Actress Jodie Foster finally addressed years of media speculation when she casually came out while accepting the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement during the Golden Globes on Sunday night.

Netflix had its share of skeptics when the company known for mailing DVDs started streaming movies such as “Alien vs. Ninja” on demand, but enough people paid for the privilege that Netflix has been able to increase the quality of content on offer—and the threat to those cable pirates who have the nerve to charge ... (more)

Figuring in among the many gauges of intelligence on this year’s SAT is one that raised a controversy for reasons beyond the usual critique that the infamous test for college candidates favors certain populations with access to a particular kind of knowledge and training ...

In this TED talk, Johanna Blakley of USC argues that “there is an upside to having your taste monitored” online. Rather than pigeonhole you in a demographic prison, the people who make entertainment are paying more attention to what you actually like—especially if you’re a woman.

Ricky Gervais had everyone laughing as he hosted the Golden Globes on Sunday—everyone except the stars in the room. Gervais’ jokes at the expense of terrible movies did not go over with the people who made them, nor did his quips about scandalized celebs and Scientology. (more)

A pall has been cast over the creative capital of the planet as the recession has blurred the distinction between emerging artist and mid-career artist, both willing to work on projects for little or no pay.

Quick—name a right-leaning entertainer who isn’t Kelsey Grammer! Or Ted Nugent. Whoever they are, conservative celebrities can now find a home to showcase their talent and flex their politics at the same time with the launch of RightNetwork.

From that moment during the Renaissance when someone first decided that a painter was more than just a craftsman with an easel, the whole idea of the Artist-with-a-capital-A has required an entire mythology just to make it seem plausible.

Is it unfair to bring up Mel Gibson’s troubles? After all, it’s been more than three years since the superstar allegedly blamed those “fucking Jews” for “all the wars in the world.” Gibson loses it in this interview, saying “I’ve done all the necessary mea culpas.”

Which industries actually thrive in the midst of a crippling recession? There are many ways to approach that question, but over the past year, Americans looking for low-impact escapism on a budget went to the movies, and they did so in numbers that might put some of the hand-wringing about the impact of the Internet and the economy on the film business on hold, at least for the time being.

It’s not the first time that objections have been raised over the kinds of values promoted, whether explicitly or implicitly, by media products hailing from the general vicinity of Hollywood, but this time the issue concerns a whole country taking on a major international commercial coalition: China and the World Trade Organization, respectively.

Oh, what a tangled web Spider-Man weaves. Thanks largely to the multibillion-dollar success of Marvel’s characters on the big screen, Disney is buying the fabled comic book company for $4 billion in cash and stock. The Mouse House says Marvel characters will soon be appearing at its theme parks, but that isn’t the half of it.

Is the unflagging popularity of reality television a sign of the entertainment industry’s relentless reliance on producing fodder for the lowest common denominator—or a symptom, as Truthdig columnist Chris Hedges argues in this clip from “GRITtv With Laura Flanders,” of a society in serious moral decline?

After a year of haggling (and not much to show for it), the Screen Actors Guild has agreed to a two-year contract with the major studios. SAG President Alan Rosenberg dismissed the deal as “devastatingly unsatisfactory.” So dramatic.

¿Quién es más macho? And who’s the rightful leader of the GOP? Both Rush Limbaugh and Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele are claiming the title in a curious kind of public arm-wrestling match that also pits entertainment against politics (as if the two weren’t already interconnected).

The founders of The Pirate Bay, one of the biggest names in file sharing, face up to two years in a hard-core Swedish prison if they can’t convince a judge that their unfortunately named Web site isn’t legally responsible for 115 million kronor worth of media piracy.

If you’re looking for an indicator of just how close the Democratic primary race is (delegate math notwithstanding), you need look no further than those all-important Hollywood donations. With nearly $6 million in entertainment industry contributions between them, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are separated by a mere $291.

After weeks of striking, the Writers Guild of America has struck a deal with Hollywood honchos, ending the protracted impasse between scribes and studios and allowing the stalled wheels of the entertainment industry to creak back into motion on Wednesday.

Pop star and producer will.i.am and director Jesse Dylan (son of Bob) put together this independent, star-filled tribute to Barack Obama’s New Hampshire concession speech. Whether it’s inspirational or just cheesy is up to you, but we’ve got nothing bad to say about Herbie Hancock on the piano.

Though Ellen DeGeneres has taken her show across the picket line and some reality TV has improvised along, Hollywood is increasingly worried about its wordless future. Late night talk shows went to reruns immediately and the scripted shows are nearly tapped out of fresh episodes. The writers, meanwhile, show no sign of ending their strike any time soon.

As a follow-up to his “Hollywood 10” retrospective essay, and in honor of Friday’s 60th-anniversary commemoration of 1947’s “Hollywood Fights Back!” radio program, author Ed Rampell shows how history has (unfortunately) repeated itself of late in America’s entertainment and news media.

Sony Computer Entertainment is in hot water with the Church of England because of a popular video game that simulates a shootout in the Manchester Cathedral. Among other concerns, the church is appalled that Sony would “encourage people to have gun battles” in a city known for gun crime.

Truthdig’s Larry Gross, a pioneer in the field of gay studies, argues that for all the hoopla surrounding “Brokeback Mountain” and this year’s spate of gay-themed films, there is little about them that upends Hollywood conventions or challenges popular ideas about homosexuality. “Hollywood and much of the media may be awash in liberal self-congratulation,” Gross writes, “but they—and we—are also soaking in the familiar hypocrisy of homophobia.” Update: Down to the Wire